"When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son."

Then he said to the disciple,

"Behold, your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.”

This is where we, as Catholics, believe Christ gave us His mother for our Spiritual Mother. This is a fundamental difference between Catholic and Protestant churches. While most Protestant churches believe we “worship,” Mary, the esteem in which we hold Mary is actually well-de- served veneration, not worship.

Here, at the Crucifixion, Christ gives us the gift of His mother, and gives According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church,

“...By her complete adherence to the Father's will, to his Son's redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church's model of faith and charity. Thus she is a "preeminent and . . . wholly unique member of the Church";

indeed, she is the"exemplary realization” of the Church,” (507-508).

This goes to explain to us that because of her absolutely perfect example of obedience of God’s plan and her examples of faith and charity, Mary is the perfect example, aside from her son, for us to emulate. Mary is also the perfect person to intercede to her son for us.

When you were little and you asked your dad for something that he denied, did you ever go to your mom to ask her to change his mind? That’s what I’m reminded of when I think of praying to Mary for her intercession.

She set something sort of like a precedent for others to ask her for intercession at the

“...When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’* [And] Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servers, ‘Do whatever he tells Mary was asking her son to help the wedding party, and even though his words sounded like He wasn’t going to do anything about it, He performed His first public miracle at the behest of his mother.

This is believed to be a sign that we, too, are to ask Mary for her intercession. According to the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops,

“Mary embraces God's will and freely chooses to cooperate with God's grace, thereby fulfilling a crucial role in God's plan of salvation. Throughout the centuries, the Church has turned to the Blessed Virgin in order to come closer to Christ,” (USCCB).

Venerating Mary only magnifies our love and relationship with Christ, it doesn’t take away from our relationship with God.

Reflection

Spend some time in prayer with Mary, pray to Mary; practice loving Christ’s mother as He did. Pray that we have the courage to always say YES to God, and have the courage to stand by those in need, as she and John did at the foot of the cross.